When my 2 nieces lived near Toronto, when it came time for them to make their First Communion, they were ORDERED to receive it in the hand by the teachers (the Pastor was unaware of it for my first niece and by the time for my 2nd niece he couldn’t protest it as then the school could legally order him out of the school).

That’s terrible. No one has the right to make anyone receive Holy Communion in the hand.

I’m sorry you were subjected to that.

Well I don’t know if this is worse but a few years ago in another parish children who were making their First Communion had the choice to do it on a Sunday of THEIR choosing and so what the Priest had them do is that at the consecration he would invite them to come up to the altar and remain standing during the entire consecration in front of a packed church. Aside from the terrible irreverence of it, I found it to be surprising as I would think that the kids would feel very self conscious about it.

Well I don’t know if this is worse but a few years ago in another parish children who were making their First Communion had the choice to do it on a Sunday of THEIR choosing and so what the Priest had them do is that at the consecration he would invite them to come up to the altar and remain standing during the entire consecration in front of a packed church. Aside from the terrible irreverence of it, I found it to be surprising as I would think that the kids would feel very self conscious about it.

Sadly, I’ve seen children subjected to ‘pseudo-concelebration’ as well. I have no idea what it’s supposed to emphasize or what makes a priest think it’s okay or a good idea, but I’ve seen it. If that had happened to me as a child, I probably would have burst into tears.

When my 2 nieces lived near Toronto, when it came time for them to make their First Communion, they were ORDERED to receive it in the hand by the teachers (the Pastor was unaware of it for my first niece and by the time for my 2nd niece he couldn’t protest it as then the school could legally order him out of the school).

Has this ever happened to you?

This is why the Church does not want Catholic Schools to be involved in the celebration of the Sacraments. Children properly celebrate the Sacraments at the parish church.

In the 1970s (1975) the trend in my area was to have 1st communion in your home with your family. YES I said that right. I distinctly remember a card table being set up in our living room and Fr. said Mass right there next to the TV set and I recieved. I remember going to 2 friends house for their first communion. I was just talking about this with my mother. :bigyikes: :bigyikes:

Now that I think about it. There is no picture of my class, no little girls in white dresses, no little boys with ties, no picture of our class on the altar with our priest and NO SPECIAL DAY. I believe my first communion was during the summer on a week day. The women who were in charge of my childhood parish are now in their late 60s and early 70s…they are a little group of women about 6-7 of them…my mom told me that they are still very active in their CALL to Action etc. She also told me that in the 70s they were quite radical with their feminism. I have been approached on occaision by one of them when I return to my childhood hometown…In fact it takes nearly every bone in my body to refrain from flying off the handle on them. THey ruined my Catholic childhood and it took me nearly 20 years to learn the faith. Their motives and actions failed them because they ended up getting a very traditionalist Catholic instead of a lukewarm indfiferent one at least with a few classmates along with me. I find considerable satisfaction in knowing that their dreams and hopes in regards of “their” version of Catholicism is in its twilight. No doubt they sense defeat.

I received my 1st communion in the mid 70’s and never heard of this… we celebrated it in the church, as did everyone else I knew who received theirs… Have always been taught that receiving the Eucharist in one’s home was reserved for those who were gravely ill only. Did others here actually experience ‘at home’ communion as well?

If the Latin Church restored the sacraments of initiation to infants (First Eucharist and Confirmation), all this would be moot. It is moot in the Eastern Catholic Churches (those in union with the Pope as well as the Orthodox).

Of course I was his teacher for second grade. All they were told about how to receive was that they could do either, but to make that choice before you got to the Priest. That way you didn’t confuse Father with your mouth open and hands raised.

If the Latin Church restored the sacraments of initiation to infants (First Eucharist and Confirmation), all this would be moot. It is moot in the Eastern Catholic Churches (those in union with the Pope as well as the Orthodox).

No doubt true but this would also be moot if teachers taught the faith and not their political agenda

in response to title of this thread, parents should be the ones who actually rehearse and model how to receive for their children, so you should not have a problem. What you do need to find out is, if the DRE is saying this because that is the way the pastor wants it. If in your parish the priest and ministers will not or don’t know how to administer on the tongue, then you do have a problem, in fact, I would change parishes over the issue.

In. The women who were in charge of my childhood parish are now in their late 60s and early 70s…they are a little group of women about 6-7 of them…my mom told me that they are still very active in their CALL to Action etc. She also told me that in the 70s they were quite radical with their feminism. I have been approached on occaision by one of them when I return to my childhood hometown…In fact it takes nearly every bone in my body to refrain from flying off the handle on them. THey ruined my Catholic childhood and it took me nearly 20 years to learn the faith. .

get over it, forgive and move on, because it is so destructive to you and your spiritual health. you know better now, and as you quite rightly point out, they will earn the fruits of what they have sown. even if they did it by pointing you on the wrong road in the wrong direction, they were instrumental in you learning your faith, try to thank the Lord for that, and for the appreciation you now have in comparing what you learned yourself with what you were taught.

Parents should be the primary teachers of the faith for their children, and the parish should help. The failure in the 70s (years my kids were in Catholic schools and preparing for sacraments) was that the teaching given to parents was equally bad, so the parents were not well equipped, except if a some rare and happy situations. Our duty now is to repair the damage, seek out the truth, and hand it on to our own children and grandchildren. bitterness and recrimination won’t help, except to be vigilant whenever these (supply epithet) women try to pervert activities in the parish to make sure they are co-opted and silenced. Don’t worry about hurting their feelings, they love to feel they are being persecuted.

Well I don’t know if this is worse but a few years ago in another parish children who were making their First Communion had the choice to do it on a Sunday of THEIR choosing and so what the Priest had them do is that at the consecration he would invite them to come up to the altar and remain standing during the entire consecration in front of a packed church. Aside from the terrible irreverence of it, I found it to be surprising as I would think that the kids would feel very self conscious about it.

If the parents had been involved in their child’s sacramental preparation they should have known what was planned and have been in a position to stop it or change parishes.

Interestingly enough My parents were raised in the late 30’s and early 40’s they knew thier faith…the only Catechesis they recieved at home was by the christian example of their parents the rest of their religious instruction was given at school…which included the nuts and bolts of our faith including how to recieve our lord. My parents were not asleep at the wheel during my time. They were doing what THEIR parents did and that was trust the Catholic system…A system which my mother didn’t carch on to until it was too late. She was told by the priest that home first communion was instituted by vatican II. Like her parents she had to put her trust in the lord. Remember in the early 70s there was no Vatican II documents yet availible to the average Catholic and there was no Catechism of the Catholic church to refer to. The Baltimore was declared OUT and the replacement and only really “current” instrucitonal material was garbage from KUNG and company. You said the teaching of the parents of the 1970s was equally as bad? What does that mean. My parents didn’t learn the faith in the 70’s they learned it in the 30s and 40s, and it was pretty good insruction.

get over it, forgive and move on, because it is so destructive to you and your spiritual health. you know better now, and as you quite rightly point out, they will earn the fruits of what they have sown. even if they did it by pointing you on the wrong road in the wrong direction, they were instrumental in you learning your faith, try to thank the Lord for that, and for the appreciation you now have in comparing what you learned yourself with what you were taught.

Parents should be the primary teachers of the faith for their children, and the parish should help. The failure in the 70s (years my kids were in Catholic schools and preparing for sacraments) was that the teaching given to parents was equally bad, so the parents were not well equipped, except if a some rare and happy situations. Our duty now is to repair the damage, seek out the truth, and hand it on to our own children and grandchildren. bitterness and recrimination won’t help, except to be vigilant whenever these (supply epithet) women try to pervert activities in the parish to make sure they are co-opted and silenced. Don’t worry about hurting their feelings, they love to feel they are being persecuted.

With all due respect to the truth, he DIDN’T learn his faith from those women. They were incredibly negligent in their Sacred duty to impart the faith. Its excuses like that that has helped to have the heretical practices in the church today.

With all due respect to the truth, he DIDN’T learn his faith from those women. They were incredibly negligent in their Sacred duty to impart the faith. Its excuses like that that has helped to have the heretical practices in the church today.

read it again, I did not say they taught him the faith, I said they were instrumental in his investigating and learning the faith himself. My own journey began when I actively resisted the schlock that I was being handed for catechist certification in my old diocese, and went looking elsewhere for the truth. If only negatively, those (supply epithet) people were responsible for instigating me to seek and find. I am not making excuses for anyone, on the contrary, I am reminding us that we have a responsiblity for our own growth in the faith, and that of our children, and cannot make excuses.

I am also making the point that bitterness against such people is useless and destructive, they must be combatted much more actively.

. You said the teaching of the parents of the 1970s was equally as bad? What does that mean. My parents didn’t learn the faith in the 70’s they learned it in the 30s and 40s, and it was pretty good insruction.

I actually was agreeing with you, and referring to my own generation of parents, not the previous generation. I was specifically speaking about the education in the sacramental prep programs of the era which the parents received alongside the children.